doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT - What do you feed your hunting dog?.....

Gentleman,

For years I fed ProPlan. Recently I switched to Innova, and I have to say, this is real good stuff. The wirehair looks real good, and she has alot of energy left in the tank at the end of the day. What attracted me to it, is it is all natural with no by products, ie chicken heads and feet. Good stuff. What do you guys feed?

Kind regards,

After 20+ years of not having a dog, I now have a 7 month old English Setter, Max. I have been feeding him Iams since the first day I had him. Did a lot of research on dog food and found out that it should have at least 25% crude protein and at least 16% crude fat. Iams has 26% crude protein and 14% crude fat.
Years ago I used to feed my dogs Triumph, a kibbled dog food with wheat as it's filler. Haven't seen it around, I don't know if it is still being made. Now just about all the foods use corn as a filler.
I've read on other sites about people bashing beet pulp in their dog food. Iams uses beet pulp with the sugars removed, and I believe it helps to firm up their stools.
A good friend of mine was a high up for Alpo years ago, and his knowledge of ingrediants in dog food was to include beet pulp in his choice of dog food for his dogs now.

Eukanaba Performance Plan. It has really served my dogs quite well. I have two Shorthairs and two Brits. Shorthairs get 2 1/4 cups a day and Brits 1 1/2 cups per day. Weight remains stable, energy high and remains are alot less to clean up.

Jim

I too did a lot of research on dog foods recently and decided along with 4 other guys locally to start feeding Diamond Naturals. We're buying it wholesale at 17.30/40 lb bag.

It has NO CORN.

If I only had one dog I might feed Innova but I simply cannot afford $50.00/bag for 4 dogs.

Recommended as a sole ration, 28 per cent protein and 20 per cent fat, I've never had a health problem feeding Shur-Gain Lifetime Performance made by Maple Leaf Foods for the past 40 years.

I feed my setters Nutri-Source chicken and rice formula. IMO, its the best food out there. I feed the same formula all year round, even during hunting season. Sometimes I might supplement a can of chicken breast or tuna in their food if I hunt them extremely hard. They look good, maintain their weight and have fanstastic silky coats. No gas or stool problems either. I will be feeding the same food to my new AWS puppy as well.

Dustin

I have a black lab female who will be 10 in April. Up until 3 years ago I fed her Iams lamb meal and rice which she had been fed since birth. She started getting stiff in the joints during hunting season and was really beginning to show her age. Tried the aspirin route and it worked but not a good long term solution. Did some research and found that Purina Pro Plan Senior formula had the highest glucosamine/chondroitin content on the market. Put her on that and it was like somebody thru a switch. She was like a pup all over again, made a huge difference. Keep their weight down, and feed them a quality diet, not the cheap stuff. The amount of go she's got at her age is amazing. I'm thinking of trying a half cup a day myself!!

I feed Natural Life - Lamaderm dry dog food. I add a cup of water to the food when I feed. I have had good results over the last 14 years with this food. More importantly I do not feed them anything else. Nothing ever! No table scraps! It is not good for dogs. I feed twice a day. On hunting days I simply feed a little more food at each serving to suppliment for the extra calories that they need. My dog are trim and in great shape and they have been the same weight all of their lives.

Bill G.

I've only been an owner/operator for a few months now. Jas is a 14 month old choc Lab and the broker I bought her from recommended the chicken/rice Iams. No telling what she was on at the breeder's. We had her on it for a month or so and noted she was itching and had tremendously bad flakey skin. The vet recommended going to the Lamb/rice as she said some of the hormones chicken are fed can cause reactions in some dogs.

Iams lamb/rice is 22% crude protein, 12% crude fat, 5% crude fiber.

I'm new at this and glad this subject came up.

The one comment about the dog having more lasting energy has me wondering, wouldn't that be a function of increased carbohydrates?

Bill,
I also am strict about people food. Nothing we eat, does she get. I figure it's more a dicipline issue than a nutritional issue. Before the prevalence of commercial foods, I suppose there were many combinations of unprocessed foods that were given to dogs. I can't imagine it's bad for them if done well. You'd have to become a nutritional expert to figure it out correctly. But how would you ever eat another meal around them again?